microscope
/ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌskoʊp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.50 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An optical instrument used for observing small objects.
noun
Any instrument for imaging very small objects (such as an electron microscope).
verb
To examine with a microscope, to put under a microscope (literally or figuratively).
Example Sentences
- "That he might ascertain whether any of the cloths of ancient Egypt were made of hemp, M. Dutrochet has examined with the microscope the weavable filaments of this last vegetable."
- "Elsewhere, professionals could enthuse over new precision instruments capable, for instance, of measuring weights down to a tenth of a milligram, or over a host of self-registering thermometers and barometers, microscopes, typewriters, calculators and all sorts of technical and musical devices, including automatic concertinas, edeophones, auto-harps, bigophones and other long-forgotten objects."
- "It has a strong germicidal action, as can be verified by staining and microscoping the pus, the characteristic micro-organisms disappearing rapidly under its use."
- "Wright (1959), using the standard and less laborious technique of microscoping the centrifuged deposit of a sample of urine, found that 21.6% of males attending life insurance examinations had more than 10 red blood cells per high power field (rbc/hpf)."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.? Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós) Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Hellenic *sképt͏̌omai Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Hellenic *-ós ▲ Ancient Greek -ος (-os)influ. Ancient Greek -ός (-ós) Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós) Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Ancient Greek -έω (-éō) Ancient Greek σκοπέω (skopéō) Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -iusnom. Latin -ium Latin mīcroscopiumlbor. Italian microscopiobor. English microscope From New Latin microscopium and Italian microscopio, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) + σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at”), equivalent to micro- + -scope.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *speḱ-, microscopium, microscopio, μικρός
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌskoʊp/
- British English: /ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌskəʊp/